Honoring Amherst's professors
By Larry Kelley and Izzy Lyman
web
posted February 18, 2002
It's not easy for dissidents, like us, to keep our cool in the poor man's Berkeley, living amidst the left-wing intellectuals who want to change the world. Last year many of these Ivory Tower airheads made our blood pressure rise. Thus, we return the favor and present them with achievement awards. All of our prizewinners, except one, teach at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
And the awards are ...
The Dare-To-Lay-Down-in-the-Streets Award goes to Barbara Love. Love, a UMass professor of social justice education, is the chair of the Amherst Regional High School Committee. At a recent meeting of that group, Dr. (strange) Love allowed an unscheduled public discussion of the sexual harassment accusation a teenage, male student had made against Principal Stephen Myers. When a reporter asked Dr. Love (me not) when she became aware of the incendiary charges, she responded with a laconic, "No comment."
In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, if a complaint of impropriety is lodged against a school official, such as Principal Myers, a public official, such as Dr. (tough) Love, must legally file a 51-A with the Department of Social Services. She failed to do so.
It's not the first time, Dr. Love (less) has been enthusiastic about adding "lawbreaker" to her resume. In November, when school officials were discussing whether to disregard the state mandate that will require high schoolers to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test to receive a diploma, the Daily Hampshire Gazette noted that " ... Chairwoman Barbara Love countered that it is equally important to teach students to defy laws they find unconscionable."
The To Hell With Mom and Apple Pie Award goes to Richard Minear, a UMass history professor. Minear rebuked kiddie author Dr. Seuss for drawing the Japanese with exaggerated features: "...piggish nose, coke-bottle eyeglasses, slanted eyes, brush mustache...." in a major New York newspaper a few months after they slaughtered 2,400 Americans in a sneak attack. This past fall, he was back in fine anti-American form.
After Amherst's veteran's agent Rod Raubeson installed 29 commemorative flags last August in the downtown, Minear e-mailed town officials to "object to the flags and certainly to the preposterous idea of having them up for four months of the year." He added with Taliban-like zeal: "I urge the board to limit the flags to one holiday per year."
The Al Sharpton America Owes Us Big Award goes to David Graham Du Bois. Professor Du Bois teaches Afro-American studies at UMass and is a former editor of a newspaper published by the Black Panther party. Referring to September 11 in BlackElectorate.com, he penned this gibberish: "This 'war against terrorism' is, in fact, an open declaration of war against the peoples of the developing world; initially the peoples in the Middle East and Africa, and ultimately the peoples of South and Central America and the Caribbean, all Asia, the South Pacific and the islands of the Seas ... "
Hello? To paraphrase our earlier phrase ... they slaughtered thousands of Americans in a sneak attack. Du Bois also conveniently overlooks the billions of dollars that Uncle Sam has lavished upon Third World countries (pardon us, 'the developing world'), as well as some of the human rights atrocities committed in such locales. But, hey, when did Marxists ever give the facts a chance?
The Drama Queen of Happy Valley Award goes to the unnamed Hampshire College professor (She wouldn't give her name to the press, but a reporter outed her place of employment.) who crashed a patriotic rally - wearing black - at Amherst College in October. She stomped on an American flag, while another young "lady" held aloft two burning flags ... all in the name of (anonymous) political agitation.
 Traschen |
The Trash Talking Old Glory Award goes to Jennie Traschen for her infamous utterance at an Amherst Select Board flag hearing on the eve of 9/11 when she described the Stars and Stripes as "a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and oppression." In the marathon media exposure that followed, the soft-spoken physics professor avoided repeating her slanderous remark. She also took pains to avoid saying, "I'm sorry."
To strike at the heart of America, terrorists chose the stately Twin
Towers. Those ensconced in Amherst's Ivory Towers spouted so much drivel
last year, we can rest assured that they will never be targeted. But as
for the naive young people who set foot in our achievement award winners'
classrooms ... heaven help them! 
Newspaper columnists Izzy Lyman and Larry Kelley have no axe to grind against UMass or professors. They had better not! Izzy's husband Wid received his Ph.D. from UMass, and Larry's wife Donna is a college professor. They can be reached at amherstac@aol.com.
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